Augmentation
Augmentation is a process by which the Eldan enhanced and controlled organisms through the use of advanced nanotechnology. The Eldan were able to imbue organic organisms with enhanced capabilities such as increased strength and quickness, as well as the ability to channel primal energy for both defensive and offensive attacks. As with other forms of Eldan technology, augmentation was developed as a system to both perfect and control the natural world - but without their guidance, augmentation creates cybernetic monsters out of whatever biological organisms are available. Since the Eldan's disappearance, automated augmentation systems have emerged as a threat to both Exile and Dominion alike. Augmented Creatures Many Eldan augmentation facilities continue to operate all over Nexus, leading to areas where aggressive, augmented creatures will attack and infect anything in sight. They are generally easy to recognize, with cybernetic enhancements evocative of Eldan technology and enhanced musculature that makes them fierce melee combatants. Sentient augmented creatures might even retain the ability to operate more complex weapons like blaster pistols. Once augmentation begins, there is no known way to reverse the process - and most scientists have come to believe that death is probably preferable. Augmented Abominations Datachron scans indicate that certain augmented creatures - dubbed "abominations" by some XAS scientists - show signs not just of aggression, but also susceptibility to the influence of nearby Eldan constructs. This could provide insight into why the Eldan created augmentation in the first place: logic would imply it was almost certainly as a form of artificial, direct control over the many life forms on Nexus. Curing Augmentation Scans revealing more data about the nanites which cause augmentation have proven quite revealing - and dire. The Eldan nanotechnology which causes augmentation appears to be in a state of constant re-evolution, constantly changing and adapting on the molecular level to their current victim. Any attempt to cure augmentation must deal with this defense mechanism, and may require turning the nanites against one another. For now, it seems the only real "cure" for augmentation is death. Algoroc Augmentation Samples Samples collected via scanbot from three varieties of augmented creatures - the elemental gronyx, the bestial canimid, and the sapient species of the XAS - show that the same form of nanotechnology is at work on each. The samples, which must be handled with great care lest they infect the researcher, appear to quickly adapt to whichever type of being they infect. The end result is similar across the entire range of life forms, however - severely diminished intelligence, hyper-aggression, and no apparent need to eat food or consume liquids of any kind. Scanbot samples also make it clear that a cure, if possible, would likely work on multiple species as well - though no such cure is known at the moment. Augmented Mental Faculties All available data shows the minds of all augmented individuals - whether they are biological, mechanical, or elemental - undergo the same cognitive devolution once they have undergone the augmentation process. Scans indicate Eldan nanotechnology is able to detect and attack the primary cognitive apparatus of virtually anything, from a human brain to a Mechari core to an elemental consciousness. This could mean the Eldan designed augmentation specifically to target nearly all forms of life in the galaxy - but to what end is unclear. Whatever the life form's origin, the results are generally the same: instinctive aggression, extremely diminished intelligence, with enhanced strength and speed. There is currently no known way to repair the mind of an augmented individual, but with enough data a cure may eventually be found. Augmentation Survivability Scans of augmentation victims reveal the nanites that infect such individuals are virtually impossible to remove by force. In fact, since the augmentation soon takes over higher brain functions in most species, including involuntary systems such as breathing and circulation, an augmented individual would be unlikely to survive even if the nanites departed willingly. Augmented Monstrosities Scans show the Ascendancy employs a unique variety of augmentation not yet found at other augmentation outbreak sites. This directed augmentation is unlike the random, disease-like variety found at abandoned Eldan augmentation facilities, for example. Instead, these nanites appear to act with direction and purpose, somehow finding an organism's most dangerous or powerful aspects and enhancing them via nanotechnology to monstrous extremes. Augmented Intelligence Scans clearly show an inverse relationship between the physical strength and behavioral aggression of subjects that have undergone raw, unfocused augmentation and the intelligence of these same subjects. Intelligent, sentient beings and clever pack predators alike are transformed - assuming they survive - into roving, ferocious stalkers with little concern for their own safety. The nanotech nature of augmentation means even mechanical beings like bots and the Mechari are susceptible. Augmentors and Recombination The bio-mech facility in Ellevar appears to have been dedicated to an unusual form of the Eldan nanotechnological augmentation known as "recombination." Whether this was a more advanced form of augmentation or an early prototype is unclear. Mutants of Darkspire Mutation rates in all scanned fauna indicate upward of 70% more likelihood to develop random mutations. Despite the outwardly natural appearance of the mutants, scans indicate an artificial agent, perhaps a form of nanotechnology, helped trigger these mutations without harming their hosts. Augmented Clones The combination of augmentation and Eldan cloning technology leads to terrifying, half-mindless monstrosities. A fresh clone generally possesses little in the way of a conscious mind, allowing augmentation nanoparticles to infect the nervous system first and spread through the body without triggering autoimmune responses. Augmented clones are extremely susceptible to suggestion, though their intelligence degrades rapidly and they generally are only good for one or two basic orders - "kill," "protect," or "dance," for example.